The Righteous Life and Blessed Works

by GF Haddad
Qasyoun@ziplip.com
"
Al-Nabhānī wrote of himself in his first published book, al-Sharaf al-Mu’abbad li-Āli Muh
.
ammad
! (1309/1891), in Asbāb al-Ta’līf lil-‘Abdi al-D
.
a‘īf, and in Jāmi‘ Karāmāt al-Awliyā’ (both
1329/1911):

I am the faqīr Yūsuf ibn Ismā‘īl ibn Yūsuf ibn Ismā‘īl ibn Muh
.
ammad Nās
.
ir al-Dīn al-
Nabhānī. We go back to the Banū Nabhān, an Arab desert folk who settled of old in the town of
Ijzim
1
North of the Holy sites in the land of Palestine, presently part of the district (qad
.
ā’) of H
.
aifa
in ‘Akka, province of Beirut. I was born in Ijzim in 1265/1849 approximately.
I read the Qur’ān with my Master and father, the righteous Shaykh and meticulous memorizer
of the Book of Allāh, Shaykh Ismā‘īl al-Nabhānī who is now [in 1891] past eighty, in full pos-
session of his senses, of strong build and excellent health, and who spends most of his time in
works of obedience.
My father’s daily devotion in every twenty-four hours was one third of the Qur’ān, then he
would complete the Qur’ān three times every week. The praise for this belongs to Allāh! #Say: In
the bounty of Allāh and in His mercy: therein let them rejoice. It is better than what they
hoard$ (10:58).
Then he sent me – Allāh save him and thank him on my behalf! – to Cairo for study. I entered
the Mosque of al-Azhar the day of al-Sabt in early Muh
.
arram of the year 1283 [16 May 1866] and
resided there until Rajab 1289 [October 1872]. During that time, I learnt all that Allāh destined for me
to learn of the sciences of the Sharī‘a and its preparatory disciplines at the hands of the
accomplished teachers and major established masters of the time, any one of whom, if he were
found in a place, would be the leader of its people to the gardens of Paradise and would meet their
requirements in all of the sciences – the spoken and the rational.
One of them, or rather their peerless leader was the accomplished, erudite teacher, the refuge
of meticulous understanding, the Shaykh of all Shaykhs, Teacher of all Teachers, Sayyidī al-Shaykh
Ibrāhīm al-Saqqā al-Shāfi‘ī who died in 1298 aged around ninety years. He spent his entire blessed
long life reading lessons until most of the Ulema of our time became his students, either directly, or
through an intermediary. I attended his classes – Allāh have mercy on him! – for three years and
read with him the two commentaries – al-Tah
.
rīr and al-Manhaj – of Shaykh al-Islām Zakariyyā al-
Ans
.
ārī together with their marginalia by al-Sharqāwī and al-Bujayrimī respectively.
Also among my teachers is the venerable erudite Scholar, Sayyidī al-Shaykh al-Sayyid
Muh
.
ammad al-Damanhūrī al-Shāfi‘ī who died in 1286 aged around ninety years.
Also the erudite Scholar Sayyidī al-Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Zurrū al-Khalīlī al-Shāfi‘ī who died
in 1287 aged around seventy.
Also the erudite Scholar Sayyidī al-Shaykh Ah
.
mad al-Ajhūrī al-D
.
arīr al-Shāfi‘ī who died in
1293 aged around sixty.
Also the erudite Scholar Sayyidī al-Shaykh H
.
asan al-‘Adawī al-Mālikī who died in 1298 aged
around eighty.

1
28 kms. south of H
.
aifa, Palestine on the Southern edge of Mount Carmel, 100 meters above sea level.
Life and Works of al-Qād
.
ī Yūsuf al-Nabhānī 2
Also the erudite Scholar Sayyidī al-Shaykh al-Sayyid ‘Abd al-Hādī Najā al-Abyārī who died
in 1305 aged just over seventy years.
Also Shaykh Shams al-Dīn Muh
.
ammad al-Anbābī al-Shāfi‘ī the Master of al-Azhar
Mosque, who died in 1313.
Also Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rah
.
mān al-Sharbīnī al-Shāfi‘ī the Master of al-Azhar Mosque, who
died in 1326.
Also Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Rāfi‘ī al-H
.
anafī al-T
.
arabulsī the Master of the Damascenes’
Porch (Ruwāq al-Shawāmm) in al-Azhar Mosque, who died in 1323.
Also Shaykh Yūsuf al-Barqāwī al-H
.
anbalī the Master of the H
.
anbalīs’ Porch in al-Azhar
Mosque.
2

[And many others, some of whom are named in Hādī al-Murīd and Jāmi‘ Karāmāt al-
Awliyā’.]
[After I graduated and returned home to Ijzim] I began to hold a number of religious courses
in ‘Akka and my home town of Ijzim. Then I travelled frequently to Beirut, then Damascus where I
met the eminent Ulema. Chief among them was the Jurist of Damascus at the time, our Master the
erudite Imām, al-Sayyid al-Sharīf Mah
.
mūd Effendī H
.
amza – Allāh have mercy on him! – with
whom I read the beginning of al-Bukhārī’s S
.
ah
.
īh
.
, after which he gave me a general certificate
comprising the rest of the S
.
ah
.
īh
.
as well as all his other narrations and his own works. He wrote this
long certificate in his superb style and handsome handwriting.
Then I headed for Constantinople twice and worked there for several years. I edited the
periodical al-Jawā’ib until it folded. I also proofread the Arabic books that came out of its press.
My monthly salary there was ten Līras for editing and proofreading. I worked on this for about two
or three hours [daily] and did it on the insistant request of the paper’s owner, Ah
.
mad Effendī Fāris.
He considered me his greatest blessing and showed great sadness at seeing me leave for my new
position with the government [as a judge]. He offered me to work as his partner or a raise, but I
refused.
I left Constantinople, the first time, for Iraq. I went to the district of Kawī S
.
anjaq in the
province of Mosul. Then I returned to Constantinople. I left it a second time in 1300 when I was
appointed head judge of al-Jaza’ court in al-Lādhiqiyya on the Syro-Palestinian sea-shore. After
living there for five years the Dawla – Allāh grant her victory! – transferred me to the head
judgeship of the court of al-Qudus al-Sharīf. This took place through those at whose hands Allāh
decreed goodness for me, without request nor prior knowledge on my part. Then, after less than a
year – eight months to be precise – they promoted me, without request nor prior knowledge on my
part, to the chief judgeship of the Beirut Court of Justice. This was in 1305/1888.
3

After al-Nabhānī retired he turned entirely to writing and worshipping. He travelled to al-Madīna
al-Munawwara and lived in the Noble Neighborhood for a while. Then he returned to Beirut where he
passed on to the mercy of His Lord in the beginning of the month of Ramad
.
ān 1350/1932.

4
Cairo: al-Dār al-Ghannā’, 2001.
Life and Works of al-Qād
.
ī Yūsuf al-Nabhānī 4
Al-Nabhānī’s introduction to the Dilālāt is rich in historical and legal details on the etiquette
of invoking blessings on the Prophet !. In the introduction to this work the Qād
.
ī recapitulates his
detailed examination – which he first presented in the introduction to Sa‘ādat al-Dārayn – of the
preferability of adding the title Sayyidinā (“our Master”) to the name of the Prophet ! in tashahhud.
This is the position preferred by the late Shāfi‘ī authorities in particular such as Ibn ‘Abd al-Salām,
al-Isnawī, al-Mah
.
allī, al-Suyūt
.
ī, al-Fayrūzābādī, al-Ramlī, al-Sakhāwī, al-Haytamī, al-Nabhānī him-
self, and others.
The proofs for giving precedence to respect (adab) over obedience (t
.
ā‘a) in the matter are [1]
the refusal of Abū Bakr to pray as imām in front of the Prophet ! although the latter ordered him.
After the prayer, the Prophet ! asked him: “Abū Bakr, what prevented you from standing firm when
I ordered you to?” Abū Bakr excused himself with his famous statement: “Mā kāna li-Ibni Abī
Quh
.
āfata an yataqaddama bayna yaday Rasūlillāh – It was not fitting for the son of Abū Quh
.
āfa to
stand ahead of the Messenger of Allāh.” The Prophet ! approved of him.
5
[2] The statement of Ibn
Mas‘ūd: “When you invoke blessings on your Prophet, invoke blessings in the best possible way
(idhā s
.
allaytum fa-ah
.
sinū al-s
.
alāta ‘alā nabiyyikum) for – you do not know – this might be shown to
him. Therefore, say: ‘O Allāh! Grant your s
.
alāt, mercy, and blessings upon the Master of Messengers
(sayyid al-Mursalīn), the Imām of the Godfearing, and the Seal of Prophets, Muh
.
ammad your ser-
vant and Messenger, the Imām of goodness and leader of goodness and Messenger of Mercy! O
Allāh! Raise him to a glorious station for which the first and the last of creatures will yearn! O Allāh!
Grant mercy to Muh
.
ammad and to the House of Muh
.
ammad as You granted mercy to Ibrāhīm and to
the House of Ibrāhīm! Truly, You are the Lord of glory and praise! O Allāh! Bless Muh
.
ammad and
the House of Muh
.
ammad as You blessed Ibrāhīm and the House of Ibrāhīm! Truly, You are the Lord
of glory and praise!’”
6

The proofs for calling the Prophet ! sayyid are in the verses #lordly (sayyidan), chaste, a
Prophet of the righteous$ (3:39) and #and they met her lord and master (sayyidahā) at the
door$ (12:42) as well as the following Prophetic narrations: [1] “I am the Master (sayyid) of human
beings”;
7
[2] “This son of mine [al-H
.
asan] is a leader of men (sayyid)”;
8
[3] “Get up to meet your
chief (qūmū ilā sayyidikum) [Sa‘d ibn ‘Ubāda]”;
9
this h
.
adīth is also narrated as Qūmu li-sayyidikum
which means the same thing.
10
(It is noteworthy that the Prophet ! specifically invoked the bless-
ings and mercy of Allāh upon the family of Sa‘d ibn ‘Ubāda as well as Jābir ibn ‘Abd Allāh and the
family of Ibn Abī Awfā.) [4] “Whenever Fāt
.
ima entered a room where the Prophet ! was sitting he
would get up and greet her, take her hand, kiss her, and make her sit in his place; and whenever he
entered a room where she was sitting she would get up and greet him, take his hand, kiss him, and
make him sit in her place.”
11
[5] Sahl ibn H
.
unayf said “My liege-lord!” (yā sayyidī) when he asked
the Prophet ! a certain question.
12
[6] Mālik and Sufyān gave the fatwa that one should not say Yā
Sayyidī in du‘ā’ but Yā Rabbī.
13

Imām ‘Abd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī in his Us
.
ūl al-Dīn cites, among those who consider the verse
of istiwā’ among the mutashābihāt or Qur’ānic ambiguities, Imām Mālik ibn Anas, the seven jurists
of Madīna, and al-As
.
mā’ī.
18
Imām al-Pazdawī said of the attribute of corporeality in his Us
.
ūl that it
is “known in principle but ambiguous in description (ma‘lūmun bi-as
.
lihi mutashābihun bi-was
.
fihi).
19

Al-Baghdādī’s and al-Pazdawī’s words show the fallacy of Ibn Taymiyya’s claim in the epistle al-
Iklīl fīl-Mutashābih wal-Ta’wīl that “I do not know any of the Salaf of the Community nor any of
the Imāms, neither Ah
.
mad ibn H
.
anbal nor other than him, that considered these [the Divine Names
and Attributes] as part of the mutashābih”!
20
Al-Nabhānī (p. 251) points out that Ibn Taymiyya not
only claimed to know the meaning of these verses, but also added categorical interpretive terms to
their purported meanings, such as “literally” (h
.
aqīqatan) and “with His essence” (bi dhātihi). He
concludes, “If the meaning of such verses [of corporeality in relation to the Divine Attributes] were
known, it could not be other than in the sense in which the attributes of created entites are known,
as in istiwā’ in the sense of sitting (al-julūs) which we know in relation to ourselves, and this
applies to the rest of the ambiguous terms.”
[2] On the proofs of the hearing of the Prophet ! in his noble grave (p. 283-285) contrary to the
contrary assertions by modernist “Salafis” such as Nu‘mān al-Alūsī’s al-Āyāt al-Bayyināt fī ‘Adam
Samā‘ al-Amwāt (“The Clear Signs that the Dead Cannot Hear”) – whose editor went so far as to state:
“I have found no evidence for the Prophet’s ! hearing of the salaam of those who greet him at his
grave”!
21

[3] On the proofs of tawassul or seeking the intermediary of the Prophet !: al-Nabhānī refutes in
great detail those who deny the permissibility of tawassul adducing, among other texts, the proofs
listed by the Mufti of Makka, Shaykh al-Islām al-Sayyid Ah
.
mad Zaynī Dah
.
lān in his Khulās
.
at al-
Kalām fī Bayān Umarā’ al-Balad al-H
.
arām (“The Summation Concerning the Leaders of the Holy

[4] On the claimed impermissibility of travelling to visit the Prophet !: al-Nabhānī’s counter-
refutation (p. 241-247, 275-298) of Muh
.
ammad ibn ‘Abd al-Hādī’s al-S
.
ārim al-Munkī fī Nah
.
r al-
Subkī (“The Hurtful Blade in the Throat of al-Subkī”!), a violent attack on Shaykh al-Islām al-Taqī
al-Subkī’s masterpiece on the visitation of the Prophet ! [Shifā’ al-Siqām fī Ziyārati Khayr al-
Anām ! (“The Healing of Hearts in Visiting the Best of Creatures”)] in which Ibn ‘Abd al-Hādī
“adopted the manner of fanatics and departed from the norms of the h
.
adīth Scholars” according to
Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn al-S
.
iddīq al-Ghumārī,
23
in defense of his teacher Ibn Taymiyya’s
aberrant fatwa that it was a sin to undertake travel to the intention of visiting the Prophet !. Ibn
‘Abd al-Hādī filled his book with unfounded accusations “in order to defend the innovations of his
teacher…. It should have been titled al-Shātim al-Ifkī (‘The Mendacious Abuser’).”
24
He falsely ac-
cuses Imām al-Subkī of encouraging pilgrimage to the Prophet’s ! grave, prostration to it, circum-
ambulating around it, and the belief that the Prophet ! removes difficulty, grants ease, and causes
whoever he wishes to enter into Paradise, all independently of Allāh %! Nu‘mān al-Alūsī also wrote
an attack on both Imāms al-Haytamī and al-Subkī titled Jalā’ al-‘Aynayn fī Muh
.
ākamat al-
Ah
.
madayn which he dedicated to the Indian Wahhābī S
.
ūfī, S
.
iddīq H
.
asan Khān al-Qinnawjī and in
which, according to al-Nabhānī, he went even further than Ibn ‘Abd al-Hādī. Also among the counter-
refutations of these two works: al-Samannūdī’s Nus
.
rat al-Imām al-Subkī and a monograph by al-
Akhnā’ī. Al-Nabhānī cites the poems of two other critics of al-Subkī – the H
.
anbalī Abūl-Muz
.
affar
Yūsuf ibn Muh
.
ammad ibn Mas‘ūd al-‘Ubadī al-‘Uqaylī al-Saramrī and Muh
.
ammad ibn Yūsuf al-
Yumnī al-Yāfi‘ī “who claimed to follow the Shāfi‘ī school” – then proceeds to refute them as well as
Ibn ‘Abd al-Hādī and al-Alūsī. Also rejecting Ibn Taymiyya’s fatwa as invalid are Shaykh al-Islām
Ah
.
mad Zaynī Dah
.
lān in his books, Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Nu‘mān al-Maghribī al-Tilimsānī al-
Mālikī in Mis
.
bāh
.
al-Anām fī al-Mustaghīthīn bi Khayr al-Anām, Nūr al-Dīn ‘Alī al-H
.
alabī al-
Shāfi‘ī – the author of the S
.
īra H
.
alabiyya – in his Bughyat al-Ah
.
lām (both of them included in al-
Nabhānī’s H
.
ujjat Allāh ‘alā al-‘Ālamīn), Imām al-Lacknawī’s Ibrāz al-Ghay fī Shifā’ al-‘Ay (“The
Exposure of Deviation for the Healing of the Sick”), Shaykh Muh
.
ammad ibn ‘Alawī al-Mālikī in
Shifā’ al-Fu’ād fī Ziyārati Khayr al-‘Ibād, the works of al-Sayyid Yūsuf al-Rifā‘ī of Kuwait, those
of Shaykh ‘Īsā al-H
.
imyarī of Dubai, etc.
Al-Nabhānī said of Ibn Taymiyya in Shawāhid al-H
.
aqq: “He refuted the Christians, the Shī‘īs,
the logicians, then the Ash‘arīs and Ahl al-Sunna, in short, sparing no one whether Muslim or non-
Muslim, Sunni or otherwise,” all the while “clamoring a lot about following the Salaf” (p. 207). He
also praised Ibn Taymiyya’s “worthy book” (p. 275-276) al-S
.
ārim al-Maslūl ‘alā Shātim al-Rasūl
(“The Drawn Sword Against the Insulter of the Prophet !”) and said that he saw in his dream that Ibn
Taymiyya had been forgiven but that he was in a lower level of Paradise than Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī.
The Qād
.
ī never declared Ibn Taymiyya a disbeliever nor do any of the reliable Ulema of Ahl al-
Sunna. May Allāh forgive him and them, take us back to Him as Muslims, and join us with His
righteous servants! Āmīn.
Al-Sihām al-S
.
ā’iba li-As
.
h
.
āb al-Da‘āwā al-Kādhiba (“The Sure Missiles Against the Prevari-
cators”), printed with Shawāhid al-H
.
aqq.
Tahdhīb al-Nufūs fī Tartīb al-Durūs (“The Education of Souls in the Arrangement of the Lessons”)
<1329>, an abridgment of Imām al-Nawawī’s Riyād
.
al-S
.
ālih
.
īn.
Al-Tah
.
dhīr min Ittikhādh al-S
.
uwar wal-Tas
.
wīr (“Warning against the Use of Photographs and
Photography”), in print.

May Allāh shower His greatest mercy on the Qād
.
ī Yūsuf al-Nabhānī, bless him with the Highest
Company in Paradise, and thank him and reward him abundantly on behalf of the Umma! Truly, the
benefit of his spiritual company, meticulous teaching, love for the Seal of Prophets !, and spirit of
humility and truth is palpable to anyone that looks into his works. The Community of Islām have
placed these peerless pearls next to the legacies of the love-consumed, learned authorities of the past
such as Imām ‘Abd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī and Imām ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Sha‘rānī rah
.
imahum Allāh.

The writer of these lines was privileged to visit the light-bathed grave of Qād
.
ī Yūsuf al-Nabhānī –
Allāh have mercy on him! – in the Bāshūrā neighborhood of the Bast
.
a district of Beirut on the day of
Jumu‘a 24 Dhūl-H
.
ijja 1423 / 8 March 2002, the tombstone of which reads “H
.
assān Ah
.
mad !, Yūsuf
Ismā‘īl al-Nabhānī.” The next day, I was honored to meet one of the Qād
.
ī’s direct students, the
venerable Shaykh H
.
usayn ‘Usayrān al-Shāfi‘ī al-Naqhsbandī (b. 1329/1911) – Allāh save him! – who
kindly granted me his chains of transmission to the Qād
.
ī among other prestigious chains in his
possession. #This is of the bounty of my Lord$, (27:40) #He selects for His mercy whom He will.
Allāh is of infinite bounty$ (3:74). #And peace be unto the Messengers$, especially the Master of
Messengers, #and praise be to Allāh, Lord of the Worlds!$ (37:181-182).